2,000-plus still without power as Staten Island cleans up after Irene

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Irene came and went but the damage she wrought lingers.

Across Staten Island yesterday, residents donned waterproof boots and descended into flooded basements, or called tree services and roofers to repair damage to their property. Leaf blowers, chainsaws and generators were humming on seemingly every other street.

"It's unbelievable," said Christopher Hague, as he surveyed his flooded yard and basement in Ocean Breeze. "There's no power, either." For many, no power meant no sump pumps -- which meant basements full of water.

As of 1 a.m. this morning, Consolidated Edison said 2,464 borough customers were still suffering without electricity (Con Edison's definition of "customer" is elastic; it can refer to a multi-unit building).

Among the casualties was the Joan and Alan Bernikow Jewish Community Center in Sea View, which has had to suspend all programs, said Ruth Lasser, the director of communications.

The utility said 32,624 of its Island customers lost power at some point during the storm.

"Crews are out working and trying isolate the problems as we speak," said Con Edison's Bob McGee.

He said he expected power to be fully restored boroughwide by 11:59 p.m. tonight.

As for Hague, he finally got hold of a generator from a friend and began the slow process of trying to clear about four feet of water from his basement. But with his and neighboring yards flooded, he was sure the water would just keep coming as fast as he could pump it.

"It's just a big lake," he said. "It's all submerged."

And it's what he -- and others in Zone A neighborhoods -- came home to after heading for higher ground during the storm.

As long as his power was out, he couldn't get the water out of his basement -- so he said he was trying not to worry about it.

"It's water, and we've had floods before," he said. "It's just water. You can get rid of it. The power will be back on, the pumps will be back on."

But getting back to normal wasn't going to be so easy for others on the Island. In Annadale, a huge curbside tree fell onto Nancy Ali's home.

"We can't get into and out of the house," she said. "It's a danger."

Curbside trees are regulated by the Parks Department, and Mrs. Ali said she asked them to cut hers down a while ago, worried that its size and its age posed a danger. Giant roots were also wrecking her sidewalk and lawn, she complained. But all the city did was trim the roots, she said.

"They said the tree was strong and healthy, and they don't promote taking healthy trees down," she said. "I guess Mother Nature took it down."

Right onto her home -- where seven people sheltered on the night of the storm and six are permanent residents.

"It was like a bomb," she said. "It was so loud."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there is not yet an estimate of how much damage Irene caused on Staten Island, or elsewhere in the city. But he said there were 2,000 trees toppled in the city, and he warned residents not to try to take them on alone.

"It really is a bad idea to cut down or remove trees yourself," he said. "Leave it to the professionals."

And City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) warned residents to be on the lookout for people trying to unethically profit from the storm.

"The Department of Consumer Affairs has been great in stopping scam-artist contractors. Earlier this year, they responded to a tip from my office which resulted in the arrest of a 'gypsy' paving crew,' Ignzio said. "So if your home was damaged in the storm, and you don't have a contractor you trust, check the DCA's 'Instant License Check' on their website to see if they are legit."

Yesterday morning, Mrs. Ali was working with everyone from the Parks and Fire Department to private contractors and insurance adjusters to figure out how to get the tree safely off her home -- and assess just how much damage it had done.

"Thank God nobody got hurt," she said.

On Winchester Avenue in Eltingville, a log cabin -- a rare sight on Staten Island these days -- was nearly split in half by a huge tree that toppled onto it. An inspector from the Buildings Department surveyed the property and posted a notice on it, saying it was unsafe to occupy.

In a sure sign that normalcy was beginning to return, Staten Island University Hospital began receiving patients again after an unprecedented evacuation prompted by the then-hurricane.

The hospital started re-accepting patients last night some time after 8:30 p.m., once the administration received permission from the state Department of Health to reopen, said spokeswoman Arleen Ryback. However, Ms. Ryback said the patients are not being returned en masse, but rather on a case by case basis, depending on their individual circumstances.

"It will be based on medical evaluations," said Ms. Ryback. She continued: "Some of the patients who would be discharged in a day or two may be discharged from their location, whether they were sent to Plainview or Syosset or another hospital in the North Shore-LIJ hospital system," of which SIUH is a part.

Patients were evacuated in the 48-hours run-up to Irene.

Between 230 and 240 patients were transported by ambulettes and buses to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton or the Long Island hospitals.

Meanwhile, she said the emergency rooms at both sites were open and actually received a number of patients during the weekend storm.

In Bulls Head, where three streets were overwhelmed by runoff from Willowbrook Park Pond, residents were also cleaning up.

The damage wasn't just to homes. Wolfe's Pond Park in Prince's Bay was also hit hard hit by Irene -- an earth dam that kept the freshwater pond separate from the saltwater ocean was breached. The pond was nearly empty yesterday, with ducks and turtles struggling to find spots to swim, and visitors shocked at the state of the pond and the many downed trees around it.

"Ever since I was a kid, I haven't seen it like this. This is pretty drastic," Mike Deane of Annadale said. "The fishing here was good, but you can't do it now."

The Andrew E. Zimmer Fish & Game Protective Association has canceled its annual Fishing Tournament, which had been scheduled for tomorrow at the pond. No new date has been announced.

Catalin Radu of Woodrow said he thought the pond would have been overflowing -- not empty.

"It's like a different world here," he said.

Lisa Walla and Diane Paolillo, both of Tottenville, looked out at the empty pond from a picnic table. Ms. Walla said she used to bring her kids to the pond to fish.